Rays will don vintage jerseys for 'Turn Back the Clock' game | Sports & Recreation

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ST. PETERSBURG, FL—The Tampa Bay Rays will turn back the clock six decades when the St. Louis Cardinals visit Tropicana Field on Saturday, July 2 at 7:10 p.m. for the ninth “Turn Back the Clock” game in Rays history.

The Rays will wear the home uniforms of the 1951 Tampa Smokers of the Florida International League and the Cardinals will wear their road gray uniforms from 1953, the first jersey in Cardinals history to feature a yellow bat on the front of the jersey.

In 1951, the Tampa Smokers led the Class B Florida International League with a 90-50 record. The beige jersey features red lettering outlined in black, and red piping down the center of the jersey in addition to black hats with a red “T” outlined in white. This will be the first time the Rays wear jerseys from the Florida International League.

The 1953 Cardinals uniform is based on an actual 1953 road gray jersey of Stan Musial’s that resides in the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum collection. Other details of the ensemble include a period-appropriate cap with a red bill, navy crown and red embroidered “STL” logo, and the absence of names on the backs of uniforms, a feature that did not begin with the Cardinals until 1962.

The ’53 Cardinals finished third in the National League with an 88-66 record, led by Hall of Famers Red Schoendienst, Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter.

All of the game-worn jerseys will be auctioned off on raysbaseball.com following the game with proceeds benefitting the Moffitt Cancer Center and the Rays Baseball Foundation.